“…a work of cinematic stature...mature, provocative and sensitively executed.”
—Variety

“Martin Ritt’s The Sound and the Fury is every bit as important to film and literary criticism as Faulkner’s original.” —Walter Metz, Film/Literature Quarterly

Directed by Martin Ritt from a screen adaptation by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr., The Sound and the Fury (1959) is a bold, intensely realized version of William Faulkner’s masterpiece about the disintegration of a once-proud Southern family, the Compsons. Compressing Faulkner’s decade-spanning, stream-of-consciousness narrative into a few highly colored and decisive days, the film focuses on the rebellious teenage Quentin (Joanne Woodward), squirming under the repressive thumb of her stern and cynical step-uncle Jason (Yul Brynner). Their power struggle is knocked off-kilter by the unexpected return of the wayward mother (Margaret Leighton) who abandoned Quentin at birth. Featuring a superlative score by Alex North, available here as an isolated track.

Enjoy the extensive Julie Kirgo liner notes and film art packaged with the Blu-ray disc.